Shoe manufacture



Feb. 1, 1944. w. AQWHEATON SHOE MANUFACTURE Fi led Nov. 10, 1941 IIIIIIIIIL Patented Feb. 1, 1944 SHOE MANUFACTURE William A. Wheaton, Swampscott, Mass, assignor to United Shoe Machinery Corporation, Flemington, N. J., a corporation of New Jersey Application November 10, 1941, Serial No. 418,574

6 Claims. (Cll 12142) This invention relates to the manufacture of shoes and is herein illustrated in its application to the manufacture of prewelt shoes of the type illustrated in United States Letters Patent No. 2,039,287, granted May 5, 1936 on an application filed in the name of Pearl C. Arnold. The prewelt shoe illustrated in the Arnold patent is provided with a welt having an upper-attaching extension and an insole-attaching extension. It is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its scope to methods of making the shoe of the Arnold patent but is applicable to the manufacture of other types of hoes in which the upper is provided with a welt having an insole-attaching extension.

It is an object of the present invention to reduce the cost of manufacturing shoes of the type illustrated in the Arnold patent by. assembling the upper and insole oil the last, thus eliminating the usual pulling-over and lasting operations,with the possible exception of the heel end lasting operation, and reducing appreciably the length of time the last remains in the upper, thereby reducing to a minimum the number of lasts required.

With the above object in view, the present invention in one aspect thereof consists in a 'method of assembling a shoe upper and an insole off the last which comprises providing an upper with a welt having an upper-attaching extension and an insole-attaching extension, providing a loose insole, that is an insole which has not been attached to a last, positioning the upper and the insole in predetermined relation to each other by seating the margin of the insole in the angle formed by said extensions of the welt, and securing said insole-attaching extension to the margin of the insole. In the manufacture of shoe of the type illustrated in the drawing, the upper is provided with a welt having an upper-attaching extension and an insole-attaching extension and the welt is formed or molded so that the upper-attaching extension and the insole-attaching extension define an angle within which an insole may be seated ister correctly with the welted margin of the upper, the method of the present invention preferably includes match-marking the upper and the insole, for example, by providing a notch in the insole-attaching extension oithe welt and asuitable match mark, such as a line; inthe margin of the insole. To facilitate the attachment of the insole to the insole-attaching extension of the welt, the upper and insole are supported on a form constructed and arranged to be positioned freely within the upper. The upper and insole may be secured together in any known manner, for example, by means of cement applied to the insole-attaching extension of the welt and the margin of the insole. After thus securing the upper to the insole, a last is preferably inserted into the shoe to maintain the shape of the shoe during the remaining operations.

The invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawing illustrating the niethod of the present invention in its application to the manufacture of the shoe of the Arnold patent above referred to.

In the drawing,

Fig. l is a perspective view of a metal shoe form of the type commonly employed in repairing shoes, said form having mounted on its sole face an insole substanitally larger in area than the bottom surface of the form; r

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a prewelt upper and an insole assembled on the metal shoe form, said figure illustrating particularly the cement attachment of an insole-attaching extension of the welt to the margin of the insole;

Fig-3 is a detail view in section illustrating a portion of the bottom margin of an upper provided with a welt of the type illustrated in the Arnold patent;

Fig. 4 is a detail view similar to Fig. 3 showing the same welt after it has been formed to arrange it for attachment to an insole and an outsole;

Fig. 5 is a cross-sectional view of a prewelt upper and an insole assembled on the metal shoe form illustrated in Fig. 1; and

Fig. 6 is a cross-sectional view of a completed shoe on its last.

The method of the present invention is herein illustrated in its application to the manufacture of prewelt shoes of the type illustrated in the Arnold patent above referred to. This shoe, as illustrated in the drawing, comprises an upper I0 provided with a welt 12 having an insole-attaching extension I4. When the welt I2 is stitched to the upper, it extends outwardly in a plane common to the bottom margin of the upper, as shown in Fig. 3. In order to arrange the welt for attachment to an insole and an outsole, the welt is operated upon to formor mold it into the shape illustrated in plished in any convenient manner.

ing operation above referred to.

Fig. 4 with the insole-attaching extension and the outsole-attaching extension arranged to facilitate their attachment to the insole and outsole, respectively. A machine for so shaping the welt is illustrated in United States Letters Patent No. 2,261,198, granted November 4, 1941 on an application of William A. Wheaton. This machine so forms the welt that the insole-attaching extension l4 and the inner upper-attaching extension l5 (Fig. 4) define an angle within which an insole may conveniently be seated, said angle serving to determine the position of the insole heightwise of the upper. To facilitate the assembly of the upper with an insole, the insole-attaching extension I4 is provided with a notch l6 which is registered with a match mark l8 on an insole 20 in assembling the upper and insole together, as hereinafter described. Said notch and match mark are shown in the drawing at the toe end of the shoe but it will be understood that inasmuch as their only purpose is to assist the operator in registering the parts correctly with relation to each other, they could be located at any point in the periphery of the shoe bottom.

In practicing the method of the present invention, a number of welted uppers, such as the upper ii) illustrated in Fig. 2, are threaded upon a post 22 on which is mounted a metal shoe form 24 of the type commonly employed in repairing shoes. In order to facilitate the positioning of the upper onthe form the bottom or sole face of the form is preferably substantially less in area than the insole Zil. After threading the uppers on the post, the insole 2b is placed loosely on the bottom of the form, whereupon the operator lifts the uppermost prewelt upper by its toe end and positions the insole-attaching extension at the toe end of the upper with its notch iii in registration with the match mark it on the insole.

The operator then'presses the toe end of said extension against the insole causing said parts to be bonded together by pressure-responsive cement with which they have been coated. The insole-attaching extension M of the Welt is then bonded to the margin of the insole along opposite sides of the shoe. This may be accom- As illustrated in Fig. 2, the bond is produced by pounding the insole-attaching extension lightly with 'a shoemakers hammer 26. It will be understood that during the course of the pounding operation,

the shoe will be shifted as may be necessary to bring the margin of the insole into a position end lasting machine the heel band of which .has

been cut away to provide clearance for the welt.

After the pounding operation has been pre- -formed, the partially completed shoe is removed :from the metal shoe form 24 and a last 28 (Fig.

6) of a size corresponding to the shoe is inserted -into the shoe whereupon the shoe is presented to a heel end lasting machine for attaching'the heel portion of the extension is to the insole,-

unless the heel portion of said extension has already been attached to the insole in the pound- The shoe is then presented to a machine such, for example,

.as that illustrated in United States Letters PatentNo. 1.815.297 granted July 21, .1931 on an application in the name of George Goddu. This machine inserts curved staples 30 (Fig. 6) through the insole-attaching extension and into the margin of the insole to secure the welt to the insole at opposite sides of the shoe at points where the cement bond might not withstand the strain on the welt in the wear of the shoe. If desired, the welt may be stapled to the insole about the entire periphery of the shoe bottom. After the stapling operation has been completed, an outsole 32 (Fig. 6) is secured to the welt by a lockstitch seam 34. The shoe is then completed in any known manner.

While the method herein illustrated involves the use of a metal shoe form as a support for the insole during the operation of attaching the welt to the margin of the insole, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its scope to a method involving the use of a metal shoe form for this purpose, it being within the scope of this invention to support the insole at the operating point in any suitable manner during the pounding operation. For example, the 'shoe could be mounted on a horn having a flat surface at its upper end of suflicient area to support the insole at the operating point.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Pat- .ent of the United States is:

1. That method of assembling a shoe upper and an insole off the last which comprises providing an upper with a welt having an upperattaching extension and an insole-attaching extension, providing a loose insole, relatively positioning the upper and the insole with the margin of the insole seated in the angle formed by the upper-attaching extension and the insole-attaching extension of the welt, and securing the insole-attaching extension to the margin of the insole.

2. That method of making shoes which comprises providing an upper with a welt having an upper-attaching extension and an insole-vattaching extension, so forming said welt that said extensions define an angle within which an insole may be seated, bringing an insole which is not mounted on a last into registration with the welted margin of the upper, seating the insole in the angle defined by the extensions of the welt and fastening the insole-attaching extension to the insole while supporting the upper and the margin of the insole at the point of operation on a form smaller than the interior of the upper.

3. That method of assembling an upper and an insole oil" the last, which comprises providing an upper with a welt having an upper-attaching extension and an insole-attaching extensiomso -forming said welt that said extensions provide a well defined angle within which the margin of .an insole may be seated, bringing an insole into .registration with the welted margin of the upper,

seatin'g the margin of the insole in the angle de- ..fined by the welt extensions, and fastening the insole-attaching extension of the welt to the infsole while supporting the margin of the insole at the point of operation on a form constructed andarranged to be positioned freely within the 'upper.

4. That methodof assembling a shoe upper and an insole off the last, which comprises providing the entire periphery of the upper with a welt having an upper-attaching extension and an insoleeattachin extension,.so forming said weltthatsald extensionsprovide a well defined angle within which; an insole may be seated,

bringing an insole into registration with the welted margin of the upper, seating the insole in the angle defined by the welt extensions, and securing the insole-attaching extension to the insole While the upper and insole are supported at the point of operation by a form constructed and arranged to fit loosely within the upper.

5. That method of making shoes which comprises providing an upper with a welt having an upper-attaching extension and an insole-attaching extension, so forming said welt that said extensions provide a well defined angle which facilitates the assembly of the upper and an insole off the last, applying cement to said insole-attaching extension and to the margin of an insole, supporting said insole on a member of substantially less area than the insole, positioning a selected portion of the insole-attaching extension relatively to the insole, bonding together said portion of the insole-attaching extension and margin of the insole, and bonding other selected portions of said insole-attaching extension to the margin of the insole after first shifting 6. That method of making shoes which comprises providing an upper with a. welt having an upper-attaching extension and an insole-attach ing extension, so forming said welt that said extensions provide a well-defined angle which facilitates the assembly of an upper and an insole off the last, applying pressure-responsive cement to said insole-attaching extension and to the margin of an insole, supporting said insole on a member smaller in area than the insole, positioning selected portions of the insole-attaching extension and the margin of the insole relatively to said supporting member for attachment to each other, pounding the insole-attaching extension to bond said parts together, and similarly bonding other selected portions of said insole-attaching extension to the margin of the insole after first shifting the insole so that the portion to be operated upon overlies said insole sup- 

